January 26-30, 2022
Colorado Springs, CO
A trail running race with a twist.
$450 awarded to first place overall.
Special unique gift to the top 5.
Entry is FREE. However, if you intend to participate please agree to and sign this liability release form.
The Twist
This is a handicapped race! Your final time will be modified based on your age and gender. For this first year we are going to use the head start table from the Dipsea Race because it is a similar distance and difficulty. In future years we will modify the handicaps based on actual results on this course. There are no gender categories or age groups. Anyone can win and we will only reward the fastest overall adjusted times. See the handicap table at the bottom of this page.
Virtual Race
This is a virtual race. You can start the course any time between 6:00 am Wednesday, January 26 through 6:00 pm Sunday, January 30. Make it exciting and run it with your friends and give them a head start based on the handicap table. Can you catch them?
Course Description
Stephanie’s Challenge Strava Route
Begin at the Bear Creek Nature Center on Lower Gold Camp Rd. Start your watch at the bridge over the creek that heads south along the creek.
Take the trail up the stairs and take the first trail that turns right. This climbs up to the main Bear Creek trail where you will take another right and continue climbing until you get to a Y intersection.
Take the trail that heads left and up to the eastern end of Stephanie’s Trail.
Run west on Stephanie’s, across lower Gold Camp and up to the Section 16 trailhead.
Run up Section 16 all the way to the intersection with the Red Rock/Palmer trail. When you intersect the Palmer trail, follow it all the way down to High Drive (this is the standard counter-clockwise Section 16 loop). Turn left and down High Drive back to Gold Camp. Take the left fork up Gold Camp back to the Section 16 trailhead. Stop your watch when you reach the first step of the Section 16 trail.
You must upload your result to Strava within 2 hours of finishing. Tag Stephanie when you upload to make sure we include your time in the results. Make sure to include your current age in the description so we can rank you properly. We will use the gender you selected in Strava.
Stephanie’s Challenge Club on Strava
Some Rules
You may run the course more than once and your fastest time will be used in the final results. If for some reason your GPS doesn’t match the Strava segment please tag Stephanie in the activity post and we will evaluate whether to include your result in the final results. Your entire Strava activity must only include this course. Start your watch at the start of the course and stop it at the finish. Do not include your warmup or warm down in the Strava activity. Do not crop your activity. Choose the “Race” category type in your activity. Your actual elapsed time will be used, not the segment time, which can sometimes differ depending on your watch and GPS.
Who is Stephanie?
Stephanie was a cat who was buried with a marker somewhere near the current Stephanie’s trail. While Stephanie’s final resting place is on the course, let’s hope you survive for another try.
Prize Pool
If you want to donate to the prize pool, email stephanie@stephanieschallenge.com. Let’s make the purse even bigger to attract the best runners! The prize pool is currently $200.
Handicap Table
Handicap minutes which will be subtracted from your final time based on your age on race day:
| MEN | WOMEN | Handicap Minutes |
|---|---|---|
| 6 & under, 74 & over | 7 & under, 66 & over | 25 |
| 73 | 65 | 24 |
| 72 | 8, 64 | 23 |
| 71 | 63 | 22 |
| 7, 70 | 62 | 21 |
| 69 | 9, 60-61 | 20 |
| 68 | 59 | 19 |
| 67 | 58 | 18 |
| 66 | 56-57 | 17 |
| 8, 65 | 10, 55 | 16 |
| 63-64 | 53-54 | 15 |
| 62 | 11, 52 | 14 |
| 9, 61 | 49-51 | 13 |
| 60 | 12, 45-48 | 12 |
| 10, 58-59 | 13-14, 44 | 11 |
| 57 | 15, 41-43 | 10 |
| 11, 56 | 16-18, 40 | 9 |
| 54-55 | 19-39 | 8 |
| 12, 52-53 | — | 7 |
| 13, 50-51 | — | 6 |
| 14, 48-49 | — | 5 |
| 15, 45-47 | — | 4 |
| 16, 42-44 | — | 3 |
| 17, 38-41 | — | 2 |
| 18, 31-37 | — | 1 |
| 19-30 | — | 0 |
Please agree to and sign the release form before participating.